Martin Jůza

Martin Jůza
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Martin Juza.jpg}}|250px]]
Demographics
Nickname	Juzám
Born	June 8, 1987
Residence	Plzeň, Czech Republic
Nationality	Czech
Professional Career
Pro Tour debut	Pro Tour New Orleans 2003
Top Finishes	4 (0 wins)
GP top 8s	32 (5 wins)
Awards
Hall of Fame

Martin Jůza is a Czech professional player. He has four Pro Tour top eights, but has experienced the most success on the Grand Prix stage, winning five events in a total of 32 top eight appearances, making him the player with the most Grand Prix top eights in the history of the game, tied with Shuhei Nakamura. In 2017, he was voted into the Hall of Fame.

Professional play

Jůza made his Pro Tour debut in 2003, at PT New Orleans, where he played a Psychatog deck to a 3–5 finish. He finished sixth at the Czech National Championships later that season, but since neither the fourth-place finisher nor the fifth-place finisher could go to Worlds, Jůza was invited, but he ultimately failed to finish in the money. He won Czech Nationals both the following year (2005) and in 2006, and made other occasional Pro Tour appearances, but good results kept eluding him. A fourth-place finish at 2007 Nationals earned him an invitation to his fourth consecutive World Championships. Jůza had considered retiring from professional play following the event, but a 34th-place finish, good enough for $1,100 and an invitation to the following season's Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, kept him going.

The 2008 season was Jůza's breakout year on the Pro Tour. After finishing tenth at Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, he placed 19th at PT Hollywood, and at PT Berlin, he got his first top eight, losing to teammate Sebastian Thaler in the quarterfinals to finish sixth. With another money finish at the 2008 World Championships, Jůza hit Level 7, the second highest level in the Pro Players Club.

His success continued during the following season. Jůza missed the top eight of Pro Tour Kyoto on tiebreakers, and after narrowly missing the money at PT Honolulu, he made his second Pro Tour top eight in Austin, playing Domain Zoo in Extended. He lost 2–3 to Naoki Shimizu to finish seventh. Additionally, Jůza had been taking to flying all over the world to play in Grand Prix events, finishing in the top eight of three, and after another money finish at the 2009 World Championships, he ended up third in the Player of the Year race and Level 8 in the Pro Players Club.

In the following years, Jůza kept traveling to Grand Prix events, and experienced tremendous success in these, winning events in Portland and Hiroshima, as well as two in Bochum. He also maintained his high level in the Pro Players Club, but failed to make additional Sunday appearances at the Pro Tour stage. In the 2013–14 season, Jůza needed a top 16 at the last Pro Tour of the year, PT Magic 2015, to keep his Platinum status; he did so by finishing eleventh. However, after the 2014–15 season, after having enjoyed Platinum (or the equivalent) status in the Pro Players Club for six seasons in a row, Jůza had to settle for Gold level despite making it to the top eight of four Grand Prix events that season. He made two Grand Prix top eights in 2015–16, and once again finished with Gold level in the Pro Players Club.

The 2016-17 started out moderately for Jůza, with no Grand Prix top eights but a good 11-5 finish at Pro Tour Kaladesh. For the Pro Tour Team Series, Jůza joined team ChannelFireball Fire, and proved his worth in the premiere event at Pro Tour Aether Revolt, where he finished 8th. Jůza's finish allowed him to lock Platinum early in the final Grand Prix stretch of the season. Later that year, he was voted into the Hall of Fame, having received 66.4% of the votes. He also won the Draft Master title for 2016–17, earning himself an invitation to the 2017 World Championship.

2017-18 was also a very good year for Jůza, as he finished in the top eight of four Grand Prix events, bringing up his total to 30, and surpassing Shuhei Nakamura to become the player with the most Grand Prix top eights of all time. He also finished runner-up at Pro Tour 25th Anniversary with teammates Josh Utter-Leyton and Ben Stark, and qualified for the 2018 World Championship. At Grand Prix Las Vegas 2018, Jůza won a qualifier tournament for a triple Beta Rochester draft, where he opened a Time Walk and was ultimately defeated by Luis Scott-Vargas in the semifinals. In December 2018, it was announced that Jůza would be one of the 32 players joining the upcoming 2019 Magic Pro League. Because he finished in the Top 20, he could continue in the 2020 Season.

League play

Season	Rank
2019 Magic Pro League	18
2020 Magic Pro League	9
2020-21 Magic Pro League	5
2021–22 Rivals League

Accomplishments

Season	Event type	Location	Format	Date	Rank
2005	Nationals	Czech Republic	Standard and Booster Draft	2005	6
2005	Nationals	Czech Republic	Standard and Booster Draft	2005	1
2006	Nationals	Czech Republic	Standard and Booster Draft	2006	1
2007	Nationals	Czech Republic	Standard and Booster Draft	2007	4
2008	Pro Tour	Berlin	Extended	31 October–2 November 2008	6
2009	Grand Prix	Brighton	Limited	8–9 August 2009	2
2009	Grand Prix	Bangkok	Limited	22–23 August 2009	2
2009	Pro Tour	Austin	Extended and Booster Draft	16–18 October 2009	7
2009	Grand Prix	Tampa Bay	Limited	24–25 October 2009	8
2010	Grand Prix	Portland	Limited	11–12 September 2010	1
2010	Grand Prix	Bochum	Limited	30–31 October 2010	1
2010	Grand Prix	Nashville	Limited	20–21 November 2010	7
2011	Grand Prix	Denver	Limited	19–20 February 2011	2
2011	Grand Prix	Kobe	Extended	23–24 April 2011	7
2011	Grand Prix	Santiago	Limited	22–23 October 2011	5
2011	Grand Prix	Hiroshima	Standard	29–30 October 2011	1
2012	Grand Prix	Madrid	Limited	25–26 February 2012	8
2012–13	Grand Prix	Manila	Standard	16–17 June 2012	6
2012–13	Grand Prix	Philadelphia	Limited	27–28 October 2012	3
2012–13	Grand Prix	Bochum	Standard	17–18 November 2012	1
2012–13	Grand Prix	Sydney	Limited	19–20 January 2013	6
2013–14	Grand Prix	Providence	Team Limited	8–9 June 2013	4
2013–14	Grand Prix	Prague	Limited	31 August–1 September 2013	5
2013–14	Grand Prix	Hong Kong	Limited	19–20 October 2013	2
2014–15	Grand Prix	Strasbourg	Limited	29–30 November 2014	3
2014–15	Grand Prix	Manila	Standard	3–4 January 2015	7
2014–15	Grand Prix	Mexico City	Limited	31 January–1 February 2015	7
2014–15	Grand Prix	Seville	Standard	14–15 February 2015	5
2015–16	Grand Prix	London	Standard	15–16 August 2015	7
2015–16	Grand Prix	Paris	Standard	19–20 March 2016	4
2016–17	Pro Tour	Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	3–5 February 2017	8
2016–17	Grand Prix	Bologna	Limited	6–7 May 2017	2
2016–17	Grand Prix	Cleveland	Team Limited	24–25 June 2017	2
2017–18	Grand Prix	Metz	Limited	26–27 August 2017	2
2017–18	Grand Prix	Providence	Team Limited	30 September–1 October 2017	1
2017–18	Grand Prix	Birmingham	Standard	12–13 May 2018	4
2017–18	Grand Prix	Las Vegas	Modern	15–16 June 2018	3
2017–18	Pro Tour	Minneapolis	Team Constructed	3–5 August 2018	2
2018–19	Grand Prix	Mexico City	Limited	6–7 October 2018	6
2018–19	Grand Prix	Atlanta	Modern	3–4 November 2018	5

→ Source: Wizards.com

Pro Tour results

List of the Pro Tour results and winnings of Martin Jůza

Season	Pro Tour	Format	Finish	Winnings
2003–04	New Orleans	Extended	194
2003–04	Worlds (San Francisco)	Special	163
2005	Philadelphia	Block Constructed	280
2005	Worlds (Yokohama)	Special	70
2006	Kobe	Booster Draft	170
2006	Worlds (Paris)	Special	133
2007	Valencia	Extended	232
2007	Worlds (New York)	Special	34	$1,100
2008	Kuala Lumpur	Booster Draft	10	$6,500
2008	Hollywood	Standard	19	$3,000
2008	Berlin	Extended	6	$10,500
2008	Worlds (Memphis)	Special	50	$660
2009	Kyoto	Standard and Booster Draft	11	$6,000
2009	Honolulu	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	83
2009	Austin	Extended and Booster Draft	7	$10,000
2009	Worlds (Rome)	Special	41	$900
2010	San Diego	Standard and Booster Draft	30	$1,450
2010	San Juan	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	107
2010	Amsterdam	Extended and Booster Draft	115
2010	Worlds (Chiba)	Special	40	$950
2011	Paris	Standard and Booster Draft	160
2011	Nagoya	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	19	$3,000
2011	Philadelphia	Modern and Booster Draft	181
2011	Worlds (San Francisco)	Special	90
2012	Dark Ascension in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	85
2012	Avacyn Restored in Barcelona	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	274
2012–13	Return to Ravnica in Seattle	Modern and Booster Draft	89
2012–13	Gatecrash in Montreal	Standard and Booster Draft	249
2012–13	Dragon's Maze in San Diego	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	34	$1,500
2013–14	Theros in Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	105
2013–14	Born of the Gods in Valencia	Modern and Booster Draft	181
2013–14	Journey into Nyx in Atlanta	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	231
2013–14	Magic 2015 in Portland	Standard and Booster Draft	11	$5,000
2014–15	Khans of Tarkir in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	212
2014–15	Fate Reforged in Washington, D.C.	Modern and Booster Draft	36	$1,500
2014–15	Dragons of Tarkir in Brussels	Standard and Booster Draft	190
2014–15	Magic Origins in Vancouver	Standard and Booster Draft	122
2015–16	Battle for Zendikar in Milwaukee	Standard and Booster Draft	39	$1,500
2015–16	Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta	Modern and Booster Draft	112
2015–16	Shadows over Innistrad in Madrid	Standard and Booster Draft	174
2015–16	Eldritch Moon in Sydney	Standard and Booster Draft	46	$1,500
2016–17	Kaladesh in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	36	$1,500
2016–17	Aether Revolt in Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	8	$5,000
2016–17	Amonkhet in Nashville	Standard and Booster Draft	60	$1,000
2016–17	Hour of Devastation in Kyoto	Standard and Booster Draft	35	$1,500
2017–18	Ixalan in Albuquerque	Standard and Booster Draft	115
2017–18	Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao	Modern and Booster Draft	81
2017–18	Dominaria in Richmond	Standard and Booster Draft	318
2017–18	25th Anniversary in Minneapolis	Team Constructed	2	$24,000
2018–19	Guilds of Ravnica in Atlanta	Standard and Booster Draft	378
2018–19	Mythic Championship Cleveland 2019	Standard and Booster Draft	38	$1,500

→ Source: Wizards.com

External links

• Lifetime Top Finishes
• Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s
• Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders
• Martin Jůza's Twitch channel